Element Plettenberg Down ThrustHey guys, my Element down thrust with the stab at an accurate 0° is -4.5° down. This is like 3.5°more than I normally use. The stab is non adjustable. My bolted on t-cant is.55°+ to the stab and my wing is set @ .7°+ to the stab which means my t-cant is .15° negative to the wing. The real big issue here is the huge amount of down thrust @ 4.5° negative? From what I have read most people are using around a -1° to -1.5° down thrust.Wing is adjustable as well as t-cant and painted nose ring (3 colors) could be re done with a lot of work so that could be re- done! Grrr! Any thoughts on this will be welcome and aporeciated .

I have 2, one with a contra and the second with a Pletty Advance.

T-can should be zero to the stab. +.7 on the wing is what both of mine are set to. Just a little variance to take out aileron trim differences

The nose ring started at about Neg 4 deg. But for the contra i trimmed the nose ring to 0 deg

The Pletty started at about neg 3 when I mounted the motor.. Another friend has one as well and had told me I would need to put some up thrust in it.
I have since shimmed to about neg 1.5. This aligns with the info you were provided.

If you are worried about making mods to the nose ring I would start with a tapered shim behind spinner when you mount the fire wall, and start
at about 2.5 deg

I very accurately was able to repeat a number of times my nose ring to have negstive 4.5° of down thrust. I agree, I am going to make a 3.25° Tappered Nose Ring which will give me a 1° to 1.5°s to work with. I can easily shim the rear t-cant bolt to match the stab @ 0°. I did alot of reinforcing of the t-cant at all three mounting bolts and made a former to reinforce the fuse just aft of rear t-cant mount! Made a huge difference in stabilizing the entire t-cant mount. That was a suggestion I got from Paul Vilarubia in Texas. Thanks again for your input.

Hey, pattratt!
Do you by any chance have a template of that former?
-Ron

Ron, no I just took some paper and sizzors and made a templet! It was actually pretty easy.

Got any pics of the mods discussed?

tony

I just measured my nose ring with respect to the stab and got 2.5 degrees downthrust.
I also confirmed John Fuqua's measurement of -8.5 degrees on the left-hand canopy line.
My wing is sitting negative at this point on the factory holes and will need adjustment. My canalyzer is also sitting negative and tilted right, so it will need some saddle buildup.